Kingdom of Iraq
This country is a part of Altverse. ) al-Mamlakah al-‘Irāqiyyah ( ) |conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Iraq |common_name = Iraq |image_flag = Proposed flag of Iraq (first proposal, 2008).svg |alt_flag = Flag of Iraq |image_coat = Coat of arms of Kingdom of Iraq (1921–1958).png |symbol_type = Royal Seal of Iraq |motto = لله أكبر Allahu Ackbar God is the Greatest |anthem = Mawtini "My Homeland" |image_map = |map_caption = |map_caption2 = |capital = Baghdad |latd= |latm= |latNS= |longd= |longm= |longEW= |largest_city = Baghdad |largest_settlement = |largest_settlement_type = |ethnic_groups = • • • |legislature = Royal Council of Deputies |upper_house = |lower_house = |government_type = |leader_title1 = King of Iraq |leader_name1 = Sharif I of Iraq |leader_title2 = Prime Minister |leader_name2 = Haider al-Abadi |leader_title3 = Vice Prime Minister |leader_name3 = Nouri al-Maliki |area_rank = 66th |area_magnitude = |area_km2 = 397,674 |area_sq_mi = 153,542 |percent_water = .9 |population_estimate = 30,004,561 |population_estimate_rank = 45th |population_estimate_year = 2015 |population_census = 31,192,483 |population_census_year = 2010 |population_density_rank = |Gini = 34.4 |GDP_nominal = $229.3 billion |GDP_nominal_rank = 46th |GDP_nominal_year = 2010 |GDP_nominal_per_capita = 6,862 |GDP_nominal_per_capita_rank = 88th |established_event3 = |established_date3 = |established_event1 = Independence from Britain |established_date1 = 1932 |established_event2 = Republic declared |established_date2 = 1959 |established_event4 = Monarchy restored |established_date4 = 2004 |HDI = 0.642 |HDI_rank = 120th |HDI_year = 2014 |HDI_category = medium |currency = |currency_code = ع.د |time_zone = Arabia Time Zone |utc_offset = +3 |time_zone_DST = AST |DST_note = |utc_offset_DST = +3 |cctld =.iq |calling_code = +964 |footnotes = |national_motto = |official_languages = |regional_languages = |demonym = noun: Iraqi(s) adjective: Iraqi |drives_on = right}} The Kingdom of Iraq ( : المملكة العراقية, al-Mamlakah al-‘Irāqiyyah), simply referred to as Iraq, is a country located in . It borders Kurdistan to the north, to the west, to the southwest, to the east, to the southeast, to the south, and the to the south. The southern part of Iraq is within the Arabian Peninsula. The capital, Baghdad, is in the center of the country and its largest city. The largest ethnic groups in Iraq are and . Other ethnic groups include s, , s, s, s, s and . Around 95% of the country's 26 million citizens are or s, with , , and also present. Iraq has a narrow section of coastline measuring 58 km (36 mi) on the northern and its territory encompasses the Mesopotamian , the northwestern end of the , and the eastern part of the . Two major rivers, the and , run south through the center of Iraq and flow into the near the Persian Gulf. These rivers provide Iraq with significant amounts of fertile land. The region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is often referred to as is the world's oldest civilization. It is here that mankind first began to read, write, create laws, and live in cities under an organized government. The area has been home to continuous successive civilizations since the 6th millennium BC. At different periods in its history, Iraq was the center of the indigenous ian, ian, , and ian empires. It was also part of the , , , , , , , , , , , , and empires, and under control as a . Iraq's modern borders were mostly demarcated in 1920 by the when the Ottoman Empire was divided by the . Iraq was placed under the authority of the United Kingdom as the . A monarchy was established in 1921 and the gained independence from Britain in 1932. In 1958, the monarchy was overthrown and the Republic of Iraq was created. Iraq was controlled by the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party from 1968 until 2003. After an by the United States and its allies, 's Ba'ath Party was removed from power and multi-party parliamentary elections were held. Prince Sharif Ali bin al-Hussein and his monarchist faction was voted into power, in favor of restoring the monarchy to stabilize Iraq, in 2004. Etymology The Arabic name العراق al-ʿIrāq has been in use since before the 6th century. There are several suggested origins for the name. One dates to the Sumerian city of (Biblical Hebrew Erech) and is thus ultimately of Sumerian origin, as Uruk was the ian name for the Sumerian city of Urug, containing the Sumerian word for "city", UR. An Arabic folk etymology for the name is "deeply rooted, well-watered; fertile". During the medieval period, there was a region called ʿIrāq ʿArabī ("Arabian Iraq") for and ʿIrāq ʿajamī ("Foreign Iraq"), for the region now situated in Central and Western . The term historically included the plain south of the and did not include the northernmost and westernmost parts of the modern territory of Iraq. The term Sawad was also used in early Islamic times for the region of the alluvial plain of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, contrasting it with the arid Arabian desert. As an Arabic word, عراق means "hem", "shore", "bank", or "edge", so that the name by folk etymology came to be interpreted as "the escarpment", viz. at the south and east of the Jazira Plateau, which forms the northern and western edge of the "al-Iraq arabi" area. The Arabic pronunciation is ʕiˈrɑːq. In English, it is either /ɪˈrɑːk/ (the only pronunciation listed in the Oxford English Dictionary and the first one in Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary) or /ɪˈræk/ (listed first by MQD), the American Heritage Dictionary, and the Random House Dictionary. The pronunciation /aɪˈræk/ is frequently heard in US media. History Pre-historic era Between 65,000 BC and 35,000 BC northern Iraq was home to a culture, archaeological remains of which have been discovered at This same region is also the location of a number of pre-Neolithic cemeteries, dating from approximately 11,000 BC. Since approximately 10,000 BC, Iraq (alongside and ) was one of centers of a Caucasoid Neolithic culture (known as ) where agriculture and cattle breeding appeared for the first time in the world. The following Neolithic period ( ) is represented by rectangular houses. At the time of the pre-pottery Neolithic, people used vessels made of stone, gypsum and burnt lime (Vaisselle blanche). Finds of obsidian tools from Anatolia are evidences of early trade relations. Further important sites of human advancement were (circa 7100 BC), the and (between 6500 BC and 3800 BC), these periods show ever increasing levels of advancement in agriculture, tool making and architecture. Ancient Iraq The historical period in Iraq truly begins during the (4000 BC to 3100 BC), with the founding of a number of Sumerian cities, and the use of , and mass-produced goods. The " ", is thus a common term for the area comprising modern Iraq as it was home to the earliest known civilization, the , which arose in the fertile of southern Iraq in the ( ). It was here in the late , that the world's and recorded history itself were born. The Sumerians were also the first to harness the wheel and create city states, and whose writings record the first evidence of mathematics, astronomy, astrology, written law, medicine and organized religion. The Sumerians spoke a , in other words, a language utterly unrelated to any other, including the , , or any other Isolates. The major city states of the early Sumerian period were; }, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and . Cities such as , (modern ) and (modern ) were also extant in what was to be called Assyria from the 25th century BC, however at this early stage they were Sumerian ruled administrative centers. In the 26th century BC, of Lagash created what was perhaps the first in history, though this was short lived. Later, , the priest-king of Umma, overthrew the primacy of the Lagash dynasty in the area, then conquered Uruk, making it his capital, and claimed an empire extending from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean. It was during this period that the originates, which includes the tale of . From approximately 3000 BC, a Semitic people had also entered Iraq from the west and settled amongst the Sumerians. These people spoke an East Semitic language which would later come to be known as . From the 29th century BC Akkadian Semitic names began to appear on king lists and administrative documents of various city states. During the 3rd millennium BCE a cultural symbiosis developed between the Sumerians and the Akkadians, which included widespread bilingualism. The influences between Sumerian and Akkadian are evident in all areas including lexical borrowing on a massive scale—and syntactic, morphological, and phonological convergence. This mutual influence has prompted scholars to refer to Sumerian and Akkadian of the 3rd millennium BCE as a . From this period the civilization in Iraq came to be known as . Between the 29th and 24th centuries BC, a number of kingdoms and city states within Iraq began to have Akkadian speaking dynasties; including , , and . However, the Sumerians remained generally dominant until the rise of the (2335-2124 BC), based in the city of in central Iraq. , originally a to a Sumerian king, founded the empire, he conquered all of the city states of southern and central Iraq, and subjugated the kings of Assyria, thus uniting the Sumerians and Akkadians in one state. He then set about expanding his empire, conquering , , and in , the , and of , and the and Eblaites of . After the collapse of the Akkadian Empire in the late 22nd century BC, the occupied the south for a few decades, while Assyria reasserted its independence in the north. This was followed by a Sumerian renaissance in the form of the . The Sumerians under king conquered almost all of Iraq except the northern reaches of Assyria, and asserted themselves over the Elamites, Gutians and Amorites. An Elamite invasion in 2004 BC brought the Sumerian revival to an end. By the mid 21st century BC the Akkadian speaking kingdom of Assyria, had risen to dominance in northern Iraq, it expanded territorially into the north eastern Levant, central Iraq, and eastern Anatolia, forming the (circa 2035-1750 BC) under kings such as , , and , the latter of whom produced the most detailed set of written laws yet written. The south broke up into a number of Akkadian speaking states, Isin, Larsa and Eshnunna being the major ones. In 1792 BC, an Amorite ruler named came to power in this state, and immediately set about building Babylon from a minor town into a major city, declaring himself its king. Hammurabi conquered the whole of southern and central Iraq, as well as Elam to the east and Mari to the west, then engaged in a protracted war with the Assyrian king for domination of the region, creating the short lived . He eventually prevailed over the successor of Ishme-Dagan and subjected Assyria and its Anatolian colonies. It is from the period of Hammurabi that southern Iraq came to be known as Babylonia, while the north had already coalesced into Assyria hundreds of years before. However, his empire was short lived, and rapidly collapsed after his death, with both Assyria and southern Iraq, in the form of the , falling back into native Akkadian hands. After this, another foreign people, the language isolate speaking , originating in the of Ancient Iran, seized control of Babylonia, where they were to rule for almost six hundred years, by far the longest dynasty ever to rule in Babylon. Iraq was from this point divided into three polities; Assyria in the north, Kassite Babylonia in the south central region, and the Sealand Dynasty in the far south. The Sealand Dynasty was finally conquered into Babylonia by the Kassites circa 1380 BC. The (1365–1020 BC) saw Assyria rise to be the most powerful nation in the known world. Beginning with the campaigns of , Assyria destroyed the rival - Empire, annexed huge swathes of the Hittite Empire for itself, annexed northern Babylonia from the Kassites, forced the from the region, and defeated the Elamites, , , , Cilicians, Gutians, Dilmunites and . At its height the stretched from the Caucasus to (modern ), and from the Mediterranean coasts of Phoenicia to the Zagros Mountains of Iran. In 1235 BC, of Assyria took the throne of Babylon, thus becoming the very first native Mesopotamian to rule the state. During the (1200-900 BC) Babylonia was in a state of chaos, dominated for long periods by Assyria and Elam. The Kassites were driven from power by Assyria and Elam, allowing native south Mesopotamian kings to rule Babylonia for the first time, although often subject to Assyrian or Elamite rulers. However, these East Semitic Akkadian kings, were unable to prevent new waves of West Semitic migrants entering southern Iraq, and during the 11th century BC Arameans and entered Babylonia from , and these were followed in the late 10th to early 9th century BC by the migrant Chaldeans who were closely related to the earlier Arameans. After a period of comparative decline in Assyria, it once more began to expand with the (935–605 BC). This was to be the largest and most powerful empire the world had yet seen, and under rulers such as , , , , , , , and , Iraq became the center of an empire stretching from Persia, Parthia and Elam in the east, to and Antioch in the west, and from the Caucasus in the north to Egypt, Nubia and Arabia in the south. The are first mentioned in written history (circa 850 BC) as a subject people of Shalmaneser III, dwelling in the Arabian Peninsula. The Chaldeans are first mentioned at this time also. It was during this period that an Akkadian influenced form ofEastern Aramaic was introduced by the Assyrians as the lingua franca of their vast empire, and Mesopotamian Aramaic began to supplant Akkadian as the spoken language of the general populace of both Assyria and Babylonia. The descendant dialects of this tongue survive amongst the of northern Iraq to this day. In the late 7th century BC the Assyrian Empire tore itself apart with a series of brutal civil wars, weakening itself to such a degree that a coalition of its former subjects; the Babylonians, Chaldeans, Medes, Persians, Parthians, Scythians and Cimmerians, were able to attack Assyria, finally bringing its empire down by 605 BC. The short lived (620-539 BC) succeeded that of Assyria. It failed to attain the size, power or longevity of its predecessor, however it came to dominate The Levant, Canaan, Arabia, and , and to defeat Egypt. Initially, Babylon was ruled by yet another foreign dynasty, that of the Chaldeans, who had migrated to the region in the late 10th or early 9th century BC. Its greatest king, rivaled another non native ruler, the ethnically unrelated Amorite king , as the greatest king of Babylon. However by 556 BC the Chaldeans had been deposed from power by the Assyrian born and his son and regent . In the 6th century BC, of neighbouring defeated the Neo-Babylonian Empire at the and Iraq was subsumed into the Achaemenid Empire for nearly two centuries. The Chaldeans and Chaldea disappeared at around this time, though both Assyria and Babylonia endured and thrived under Achaemenid rule. Little changed under the Persians, having spent three centuries under Assyrian rule, their kings saw themselves as successors to Ashurbanipal, and they retained Assyrian Imperial Aramaic as the language of empire, together with the Assyrian imperial infrastructure, and an Assyrian style of art and architecture. In the late 4th century BC, conquered the region, putting it under rule for over two centuries. The Seleucids introduced the Indo-Anatolian and term Syria to the region. This name had for many centuries been the Indo-European word for Assyria and specifically and only meant Assyria, however the Seleucids also applied it to The Levant (Aramea), causing both the Assyria and the Assyrians of Iraq and the Arameans and The Levant to be called Syria and Syrians/Syriacs in the Greco-Roman world. The (247 BC – 224 AD) from Persia conquered the region during the reign of (r. 171–138 BC). From , the invaded western parts of the region , briefly founding Assyria Provincia in Assyria. began to take hold in Iraq (particularly in Assyria) between the 1st and 3rd centuries, and Assyria became a center of Syriac Christianity, the and Syriac literature. A number of indigenous independent states evolved in the north during the Parthian era, such as Adiabene, Assur, Osroene and Hatra. A number of Assyrians from Mesopotamia were conscripted into or joined the , and the Aramaic language of Assyria and Mesopotamia has been found as far afield as in northern , with inscriptions written by n and Aramean soldiers of the Roman Empire. The of Persia under destroyed the Parthian Empire and conquered the region in 224 AD. During the 240s and 250's AD the Sassanids gradually conquered the small Neo Assyrian states, culminating with Assur in 256 AD. The region was thus a province of the for over four centuries, and became the frontier and battle ground between the Sassanid Empire and , with both empires weakening each other greatly, paving the way for the Arab- in the mid-7th century. Middle Ages The Arab Islamic conquest in the mid-7th century AD established in Iraq and saw a large influx of Arabs and . Under the , the prophet 's cousin and son-in-law, , moved his capital to when he became the fourth caliph. The ruled the province of Iraq from in the 7th century. (However, eventually there was a separate, independent in Iberia.) The built the city of Baghdad in the 8th century as its capital, and the city became the leading metropolis of the and for five centuries. Baghdad was the largest city of the Middle Ages, peaking at a population of more than a million, and was the centre of learning during the . The destroyed the city during the in the 13th century. In 1257 amassed an unusually large army, a significant portion of the Mongol Empire's forces, for the purpose of conquering Baghdad. When they arrived at the Islamic capital, Hulagu Khan demanded surrender but the last Abbasid Caliph refused. This angered Hulagu, and, consistent with Mongol strategy of discouraging resistance, he besieged Baghdad, sacked the city and massacred many of the inhabitants. Estimates of the number of dead range from 200,000 to a million. The Mongols destroyed the Abbasid Caliphate and Baghdad's , which contained countless precious and historical documents. The city has never regained its previous pre-eminence as a major center of culture and influence. Some historians believe that the Mongol invasion destroyed much of the irrigation infrastructure that had sustained Mesopotamia for millennia. Other historians point to soil salination as the culprit in the decline in agriculture. The mid-14th-century ravaged much of the . The best estimate for the Middle East is a death rate of roughly one-third. In 1401 a warlord of Mongol descent, (Timur Lenk), invaded Iraq. After the capture of Baghdad, 20,000 of its citizens were massacred. Timur ordered that every soldier should return with at least two severed human heads to show him (many warriors were so scared they killed prisoners captured earlier in the campaign just to ensure they had heads to present to Timur). Timur also conducted massacres of the indigenous Assyrian Christian population, hitherto still the majority population in northern Mesopotamia, and it was during this time that the ancient Assyrian city of Assur was finally abandoned. Ottoman Iraq During the late 14th and early 15th centuries, the ruled the area now known as Iraq. In 1466, the defeated the Black Sheep and took control. In the 16th century, most of the territory of present-day Iraq came under the control of Ottoman Empire as the . Throughout most of the period of Ottoman rule (1533–1918) the territory of present-day Iraq was a battle zone between the rival regional empires and tribal alliances. The of Iran briefly asserted their hegemony over Iraq in the periods of 1508–1533 and 1622–1638. By the 17th century, the frequent conflicts with the Safavids had sapped the strength of the Ottoman Empire and had weakened its control over its provinces. The nomadic population swelled with the influx of s from , in the Arabian Peninsula. Bedouin raids on settled areas became impossible to curb During the years 1747–1831 Iraq was ruled by a of origin who succeeded in obtaining autonomy from the , suppressed tribal revolts, curbed the power of the Janissaries, restored order and introduced a program of modernization of economy and military. In 1831, the Ottomans managed to overthrow the Mamluk regime and imposed their direct control over Iraq. The population of Iraq, estimated at 30 million in 800 AD, was only 5 million at the start of the 20th century. During , the Ottomans sided with and the . In the against the Central Powers, forces invaded the country and initially suffered a major defeat at the hands of the Turkish army during the (1915–1916). However, subsequent to this the British began to gain the upper hand, and were further aided by the support of local Arabs and [Assyrians. In 1916, the British and French made a plan for the post-war division of Western Asia under the . British forces regrouped and in 1917, and defeated the Ottomans. An armistice was signed in 1918. During World War I the Ottomans were defeated and driven from much of the area by the United Kingdom during the . The British lost 92,000 soldiers in the Mesopotamian campaign. Ottoman losses are unknown but the British captured a total of 45,000 . By the end of 1918 the British had deployed 410,000 men in the area, of which 112,000 were combat troops. British mandate and independent Iraq On 11 November 1920 Iraq became a under British control with the name " ". The British established the Hashemite king, , who had been forced out of Syria by the French, as their client ruler. Likewise, British authorities selected Sunni Arab elites from the region for appointments to government and ministry offices. Faced with spiraling costs and influenced by the public protestations of war hero , notably known as Lawrence of Arabia, in , Britain replaced in October 1920 with new Civil Commissioner . Cox managed to quell a rebellion, yet was also responsible for implementing the fateful policy of close cooperation with Iraq's Sunni minority. The institution of slavery was abolished in the 1920s. Britain granted independence to the in 1932, on the urging of King Faisal, though the British retained military bases, local militia in the form of , and transit rights for their forces. King ruled as a figurehead after King Faisal's death in 1933, while undermined by attempted military , until his death in 1939. Ghazi was followed by his underage son, . served as Regent during Faisal's minority. On 1 April 1941, and members of the staged a . During the subsequent , the United Kingdom (which still maintained air bases in Iraq) invaded Iraq for fear that the Rashid Ali government might cut oil supplies to Western nations because of his links to the . The war started on 2 May, and the British, together with loyal Assyrian Levies, defeated the forces of Al-Gaylani, forcing an armistice on 31 May. A followed the restoration of the pre-coup government of the Hashemite monarchy. The occupation ended on 26 October 1947, although Britain was to retain military bases in Iraq until 1954, after which the Assyrian militias were disbanded. The rulers during the occupation and the remainder of the Hashemite monarchy were , the autocratic Prime Minister, who also ruled from 1930–1932, and 'Abd al-Ilah, the former Regent who now served as an adviser to King Faisal II. Republic and Ba'athist Iraq in 1958]] In 1958 a coup d'etat known as the led to the end of the monarchy. Brigadier General assumed power, but he was overthrown by Colonel in a . After his death in 1966 he was succeeded by his brother, , who was overthrown by the in 1968. became the first Ba'ath President of Iraq but then the movement gradually came under the control of General , who acceded to the presidency and control of the (RCC), then Iraq's supreme executive body, in July 1979. After the success of the 1979 , President Saddam Hussein initially welcomed the overthrow of the President of Iran and sought to establish good relations with 's new government. However, Khomeini openly called for the spread of the Islamic Revolution to Iraq, arming Shiite and Kurdish rebels against Saddam's regime and sponsoring assassination attempts on senior Iraqi officials. Following months of cross-border raids between the two countries, Saddam declared war on Iran in September 1980, initiating the (or First Persian Gulf War). Iraq withdrew from Iran in 1982, and for the next six years Iran was on the offensive. The war ended in stalemate in 1988 and cost the lives of between half a million and 1.5 million people. In 1981, Israeli aircraft and was widely criticized at the United Nations. Iraq waged against Iran. In the final stages of Iran–Iraq War, the Ba'athist Iraqi regime led the , a campaign that targeted Iraqi Kurds, and led to the killing of 50,000 – 100,000 civilians. In August 1990, . This subsequently led to by United States-led forces in the First Gulf War. The coalition forces proceeded with a bombing campaign targeting military targets and then launched a 100-hour-long ground assault against Iraqi forces in Southern Iraq and those occupying Kuwait. Iraq's armed forces were devastated during the war and shortly after it ended in 1991, Shia and Kurdish Iraqis led against Saddam Hussein's regime, but these were successfully repressed using the Iraqi security forces and chemical weapons. It is estimated that as many as 100,000 people, including many civilians were killed. During the uprisings the US, UK, France and Turkey, claiming authority under , established the to protect Kurdish and Shiite populations from attacks by the Hussein regime's fixed-wing aircraft (but not helicopters). Iraq was ordered to destroy its chemical and biological weapons and the UN attempted to compel Saddam Hussein's government to disarm and agree to a ceasefire by imposing additional sanctions on the country in addition to the initial sanctions imposed following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. The Iraqi Government's failure to disarm and agree to a ceasefire resulted in which remained in place until 2003. Studies dispute the effects of the sanctions on Iraqi civilians. During the late 1990s, the U.N. considered relaxing the because of the hardships suffered by ordinary Iraqis and attacks on U.S. aircraft patrolling the no-fly zones led to . Following the the began planning the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's government and in October 2002, the U.S. Congress passed the . In November 2002 the UN Security Council passed and in March 2003 the U.S. and its allies invaded Iraq. Modern Iraq Government and politics Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the people of the country voted in 2004 for Sharif Ali bin al-Hussein, a descendent of the (ruling dynasty of Iraq until 1958), to take the throne. This restoration of the monarchy was confirmed in the 2005 constitutional referendum. Although he is a Sunni Muslim (which are a minority in Iraq), he was voted on in the promise of being neutral in regards to the Sunni-Shia split and promised to restore "order, prosperity, and stability in Iraq." So in 2005, Iraq officially became a , which it remains as to this day. The legislature is the Royal Council of Representatives, which has 328 seats. There are several coalitions of parties in the council, including the State of Law coalition (the largest), the Iraqi National Alliance (the second largest), and several other smaller ones. Foreign relations The Kingdom of Iraq maintains foreign relations with many of the world's countries, though not all, as there are some countries that Iraq does not have relations with (usually if the said country is located far away and the two have nothing to benefit from establishing diplomatic ties). Iraq's priorities in foreign relations include establishing trade agreements that would benefit both nations, and also to receive support from others for the Iraqi government's war against various terrorist groups. To that end, Iraq also cooperates with nations on the subject of counter-terrorism, and troops of the Royal Iraqi Armed Forces have taken part in joint military drills with security forces of other countries. Iraq's strongest allies include , , , and the . With the outbreak of the in 2011, the government of Iraq has supported the President of Syria, . This has caused several countries to condemn this action, including the United States. However, Iraq continues to support Assad because a stable Syria would greatly help the situation in Iraq itself. Iraq is also in a dispute with the neighboring Democratic Republic of Kurdistan, which occupied and annexed in the 1990s. The Kingdom of Iraq does not recognize this and claims that Iraqi Kurdistan (and the other zones that Kurdistan occupied since its intervention in the anti-ISIS conflict) are still part of Iraq. The country is part of the League of Nations, the , and several other international organizations. Human rights Relations between Iraq and its have been sour in recent history, especially with against them in the 1980s. After , many Kurds fled their homeland and s were established in northern Iraq to prevent more conflicts. Tensions increased since the occupation of Iraqi Kurdistan by the Democratic Republic of Kurdistan since the 1990s, which the Iraqi government claims is illegal and has been demanding that the Kurds withdraw. remain limited. Although , remains . Targeting people because of their gender identity or sexual orientation is not uncommon and is usually carried out in the name of . People who dress in emo style are mistakenly associated with homosexuality and may suffer the same fate. A BBC article published in 2009, which includes interviews of homosexual and transgendered Iraqis, suggests that LGBT people were less subject to violence under Hussein's regime. Administrative divisions The Kingdom of Iraq is officially divided into nineteen governorates, however, several of them are under occupation by the Democratic Republic of Kurdistan in the north. In the west, large swaths of territory are under control of the (ISIS) terrorist group. The government of Iraq remains nominally in control of these areas, and still has governments-in-exile in Baghdad for the governorates that are under control of the Kurdish People's Defence Force. The Royal Iraqi Army has had skirmishes with the Kurdish forces in these regions, though these have stopped since the arrival of ISIS and the Kurdish intervention in northern Iraq against the terrorist group. Since then, Kurdistan occupied more land and is contesting it with the Iraqi government in Baghdad. Military The security forces of Iraq are the Royal Iraqi Armed Forces, which consist of the Iraqi Army, Navy, and Air Force. Additionally, there is the Royal Guard, which is under the direct control of the King of Iraq (serving as his protectors), and also an Air Defense service within the Air Force. All three branches are commanded by the general staff, and managed by the Ministry of Defense. In total, the Iraqi Armed Forces has around 800,000 active personnel (775,000 army, 10,000 navy and 15,000 air force). The post-2003 Iraqi government has introduced conscription, which requires all males between the ages of 18 and 49 to serve for one year in the Royal Armed Forces. The modern Iraqi Army has received a lot of assistance from foreign forces, including those of the United States, which have taken most of the work in rebuilding the Iraqi military after the 2003 invasion. The modern Royal Iraqi military suffered from many problems initially, including corruption and mass desertions. However, since 2011, the situation has improved quite a bit, with Iraqi soldiers being more willing to fight and with corruption going down. Iraq has purchased a lot of equipment from the US, as well as other countries, including , , , and . When the ISIS terrorist group attacked in 2014, the shortcomings of the Iraqi military were shown, as many Iraqi soldiers retreated rather than fight. However, the situation improved since the beginning of the conflict, with the regrouped Iraqi Army making many gains against ISIS (along with assistance from other countries). Law enforcement Economy Iraq's economy is dominated by the sector, which has traditionally provided about 95% of foreign exchange earnings. The lack of development in other sectors has resulted in 18%–30% unemployed and a depressed per capita GDP of $4,000. Public sector employment accounted for nearly 60% of full-time employment in 2011. The oil export industry, which dominates the Iraqi economy, generates very little employment. Currently only a modest percentage of women (the highest estimate for 2011 was 22%) participate in the labour force. Prior to US occupation, Iraq's prohibited foreign ownership of Iraqi businesses, ran most large industries as state-owned enterprises, and imposed large s to keep out foreign goods. After the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, the quickly began issuing many binding orders Iraq's economy and opening it up to . On November 20, 2004, the of creditor nations agreed to write off 80% ($33 billion) of Iraq's $42 billion debt to Club members. Iraq's total external debt was around $120 billion at the time of the 2003 invasion, and had grown another $5 billion by 2004. The will be implemented in three stages: two of 30% each and one of 20%. In February 2011, included Iraq in a group of countries which it described as , that it argued will enjoy significant economic growth in the future. The official currency in Iraq is the . The Coalition Provisional Authority issued new dinar coins and notes, with the notes printed by using modern anti-forgery techniques. 's October 20, 2009 endorsement of the Iraqi Dinar on CNBC has further piqued interest in the investment. Five years after the invasion, an estimated 2.4 million people were (with a further two million refugees outside Iraq), four million Iraqis were considered food-insecure (a quarter of children were chronically malnourished) and only a third of Iraqi children had access to safe drinking water. According to the , s face challenges in carrying out their mission, leaving their assistance "piecemeal and largely conducted undercover, hindered by insecurity, a lack of coordinated funding, limited operational capacity and patchy information". International NGOs have been targeted and during the first 5 years, 94 aid workers were killed, 248 injured, 24 arrested or detained and 89 kidnapped or abducted. Oil and energy Infrastructure Geography Iraq lies between latitudes 29° and 38° N, and longitudes 39° and 49° E (a small area lies west of 39°). Spanning 397,674 square kilometers (153,542 square miles; not including Iraqi Kurdistan), it is the 66th-largest country in the world. It is comparable in size to the n region of Sierra, and somewhat smaller than . Iraq mainly consists of desert, but near the two major rivers ( and ) are fertile alluvial plains, as the rivers carry about 60,000,000 m3 (78,477,037 cu yd) of silt annually to the delta. The north of the country is mostly composed of mountains; the highest point being at 3,611 m (11,847 ft) point, unnamed on the map opposite, but known locally as Cheekah Dar (black tent). Iraq has a small coastline measuring 58 km (36 mi) along the . Close to the coast and along the (known as arvandrūd: اروندرود among Iranians) there used to be marshlands, but many were drained in the 1990s. Climate Most of Iraq has a hot arid climate with subtropical influence. Summer temperatures average above 40 °C (104 °F) for most of the country and frequently exceed 48 °C (118.4 °F). Winter temperatures infrequently exceed 21 °C (69.8 °F) with maxima roughly 15 to 19 °C (59.0 to 66.2 °F) and night-time lows 2 to 5 °C (35.6 to 41.0 °F). Typically precipitation is low; most places receive less than 250 mm (9.8 in) annually, with maximum rainfall occurring during the winter months. Rainfall during the summer is extremely rare, except in the far north of the country. The northern mountainous regions have cold winters with occasional heavy snows, sometimes causing extensive flooding. Transportation Iraq has a system of roadways, which totaled 44,900 kilometers in 2002. Most of the roads are paved. There are several railways, though they are few and their function has been disrupted in 2014 with the escalation of the Second Iraqi Civil War. Several rail links exist to neighboring countries, including Kurdistan, Syria, Jordan, and Iran (Kuwait has no railways). However, the railways linking with Kurdistan have been closed down since 2014. A there are more than 100 airports in Iraq, with six international airports. Demographics Education The CIA World Factbook estimates that in 2000 the adult was 84% for males and 64% for females, with UN figures suggesting a small fall in literacy of Iraqis aged 15–24 between 2000 and 2008, from 84.8% to 82.4%. The undertook a complete reform of Iraq’s education system: Ba'athist ideology was removed from curricula and there were substantial increases in teacher salaries and training programs, which the Hussein regime neglected in the 1990s. In 2003 an estimated 80% of Iraq’s 15,000 school buildings needed rehabilitation and lacked basic sanitary facilities, and most schools lacked libraries and laboratories. Education is mandatory only through the sixth grade, after which a national examination determines the possibility of continuing into the upper grades. Although a vocational track is available to those who do not pass the exam, few students elect that option because of its poor quality. Boys and girls generally attend separate schools beginning with seventh grade. In 2005 obstacles to further reform were poor security conditions in many areas, a centralized system that lacked accountability for teachers and administrators, and the isolation in which the system functioned for the previous 30 years. Few private schools exist. Prior to the invasion of 2003, some 240,000 persons were enrolled in institutions of higher education. According to the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities, the top-ranking universities in the country are the (1717th worldwide), the (3160th) and (3946th). Health |Southeast = |South = |Southwest = |West = |Northwest = Kurdistan }} Category:Countries Category:Altverse Category:Kingdom of Iraq